Latrobe salutes an icon

Hundreds packed into the grandstand at Mr Kirkwood's beloved Latrobe Football Ground for his funeral, celebrating the life of a community icon.

"People couldn't mention him without mentioning where he lived," Melinda Poon said, speaking on behalf of Mr Kirkwood's grandchildren.

"Pop and Latrobe went hand in hand.

"He was born here and he died here and that's exactly what he would have wanted.

"I believe when we die we go to a better place, some believe that's heaven, but I think Pop thought it was a big Latrobe in the sky."

Mr Kirkwood's achievements were many, he was involved in the Latrobe Bicycle Race Club, Rotary and the Latrobe Football Club.

"Let me say without fear of equivocation, that no community, particularly one as small as Latrobe, can afford to lose a citizen of the calibre of Ivor Kirkwood," friend Peter Lyons said.

"There's a common saying in football that there's a go-to player, one that you can count on in any situation, well Ivor was unquestionably that player."

At the end of the service, the hearse did a lap around the cycling track before, on the home straight a guard of honour was made for Mr Kirkwood by those in attendance.

As the vehicle passed slowly by the rows of people, the bell, a sound associated with the Latrobe Wheel, which Mr Kirkwood spent much of his life helping organise, rang out through the silence, and Mr Kirkwood left the ground for the final time, roughly 70 years after he first joined the Latrobe Football Club.

"Almost seven decades later, we gather to show our gratitude to respect and acknowledge almost a life long association to not only the Latrobe Football Club but to our community as a whole," Latrobe Football Club's Peter Freshney said.